Italy Photos!
Hey everyone.
Since not all of you have facebook, you are unable to see all of the wonderful pictures I have taken on my trip so far.. So I decided to make a Flickr account so that I could share all the pictures with you :)
Just follow the link above and it should take you to my photos!
Ciao!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Day 23- 33 Volpaia
Ciao Tutti!
So I have realized that blogging daily is almost an impossibility.. As you can see, it takes me at least a week to post. But I suppose it is a good thing that I am just that busy and having that much fun over here :) Anyway, I will try not to write a novel, since it has been ten days since I last wrote. I could very well write a novel but I will try to keep it somewhat concise.
As you last heard, I was dining away almost nightly at various "aperitivi" around Florence. I wish you all could experience a true aperitivo.. the food is usually better than anything I ever eat at home but its all "appetizers." Anyway, I wrote that I planned on going to Sunflower on Sunday.. Unfortunately it was cancelled due to the rain that actually came on Sunday night.. but oh well. Instead, on Friday night I went out with Tommaso because my other friends weren't going anywhere and I was bored and wanted to get out of the house. Because mom was using the car, the next obvious choice was to take his "mottorino" AKA a Vespa. And let me tell you... all the stereotypes about Italian vespa drivers are true!! I am a first hand witness to this everyday while standing (somewhat) safely on the sidewalk watching. But in this special case, I was able to get some actual evidence to prove my case. IT WAS SO SCARY! I honestly don't understand how there aren't accidents every five seconds here. Maybe it's because their cars are so small or something? I really don't know.. But alas, I was riding a Vespa through the strees of Firenze! As scary as it was, Tommasso really is a good driver, and I did wear a helmet so don't get worried yet.. We ended up going back to the Bar Argentina with a bunch of his friends. One or two spoke English so I talked with them a little bit, but I mostly listened. It gives me extra practice that most people don't get. So, there was Friday night. My first ride on a scooter, and conversations with Italians!
On Saturday, I hung out at home for the day. Later that night, we had a "girls night" with pizza at Gusta Pizza.. the BEST pizza in all of Florence. And after, we walked to out friend's apartment to hang out before going out. That was my first experience in a discoteca here in Florence. Called "Twice," it is a mostly American hang out with over priced drinks, loud music, no air, and of course, tons of Italian boys. When we walked into the place, there were literally 5 guys to every one girl in there. And let me tell you, they are not shy about making a point of coming over. I think I speak for all the girls there when I say that it feels like a meat market, and the guys are literally there to "pick out" the best product they can find. Needless to say, we did not stay there long.
Sunday, being that Sunflower was cancelled, I slept in. Woke up to eat, and took a nap. When I finally decided to arise for the day, I got up and did some homework. Sunday was mostly uneventful..
Monday, the start of a new week! Back at school in the a.m., home around one for lunch. Nothing too interesting. Homework, dinner, bed.
Tuesday. Somewhat of the same story. Except instead of going home for lunch, I tried this panino shop around the corner from school that has happy hour panini from 12 to 3. For only 3 euro, you get a huge panino with anything you want in it AND a drink. Just a great bargain. The panino was delicious and made having to go back to class less painful. I do miss being able to go home in between classes.. but it's not easy to do when you must take the bus.
Wednesday... more of the same. Except today we had an oral quiz in class. I actually just got my grade back today and got an A-. Not too shabby for making up a skit in 15 minutes! I really do enjoy talking when I can. It just takes a me a little while to formulate the words that I want to say. Anyway, after class I went home. At this point in the week, I have decided to go to Volpaia to visit my grandparents who are in Italy for three weeks! After school I decided which train to catch on Friday to get there. I couldn't believe I was actually going to see the place that my grandpa loves so dearly. I couldn't wait :) Went home to study and write a paper about Neorealism for my film class.
Thursday. First BIG test for Italian. I thought it went okay.... the class is fairly challenging because it goes at such a fact pace but the test didn't seem so bad. For lunch I went to Gusta Pizza to celebrate being done with my paper and finishing the test. After that, I went home and finally took a break. That night, Kelly, Tommaso and I went to this the William which is a fairly popular bar. We met up with Mirko, Tommaso's friend, and some of Kelly's friends. Kelly really likes beer so she always orders the strongest thing they have. It was pretty fun night sitting an talking over our dark beer [Side note to Tobin if you read this: I have to admit, I am beginning to like beer a little bit more, and not just "yellow fizzy water" beerm but the REAL stuff :)] After that, Tommaso drove us home and I crashed out.
Friday: Wake up around 10. Pack for Volpaia, and catch the bus to the train station. I still can't believe I am on my way there! What a life I have! I catch a 1:13 p.m. train and the ride takes about 45 minutes to get to Montevarchi... a town close-ish to Volpaia. Grandma and their driver Patricio are there waiting for me at the station! It has been a year since I have seen my grandparents and I have never been in Italy with them! I feel so happy to see a familiar face, that it kind of makes a little homesick. But I get over it quickly and we are on our way up the mountain to Volpaia! For those of you who have never been to Tuscany, Chianti region is what you envision when people say "Italy." At least that is tue for my vision. It is the setting of "Under the Tuscan Sun"... Eat, Pray, Love... and every other Italy set film out there. Simply breathtaking. By the time we made to Volpaia, I couldn't believe I was actually there. Volpaia was almost the way I had imagined it.. Small, and quieter than any place I've ever been.I arrived around 3 p.m. and we walked down to Bar-Ucci to get a cappucino but I had a feeling it was more so that my grandpa could introduce me to all these characters I've only ever read about in his book. At 4:30, a group of American tourists who had spent the week in Volpaia wanted to throw Paola, one of the Bar owners, a surprise birthday party. They asked my grandpa if he wanted to sing for her, and of course, he agreed. I have never heard my grandpa turn down a chance to sing. Especially in his most special place. Anyway, he sang two songs for the congregation and of course everyone broke intp applause at the end. It's not everyday that you hear an 83 year old man burst out in song, especially that song being opera. That night we dined at La Bottega, the restaurant about 20 feet from the bar, run by Paola's sister, Carla. After our meal, she asked grandpa to sing again, and he sang with her for the rest of the guests to hear. I love to see the reactions on people's faces when they realize what is happening across the room from them. I have had the priviledge to see these expressions for years now. For dinner I ordered the rabbit.. Yes, I know... not typical. But I wanted to give it a chance. The verdict: That was probably the first and last time I will be eating rabbit. All the same, it was a good experience and I am glad I tried it. Other than that, the food was delicious and I hope to go back to La Bottega again someday.
Saturday: Woke up at eight, got dressed and went down to the Bar with miei nonni (grandparents). Grandpa has a particular spot that he prefers to sit in so when we got down there, he was happty to see his table vacant. I ordered a capuccino and they un caffe. They planned to take me down to see their friend's vineyard and into Radda to go grocery shopping. The vineyard was magical. I got my own private tour of the winery and got to taste the the wine straight from the barrel! It was an amazing experience, and again, I am so blessed to be here! After the tour, we went to Radda to go grocery shopping and it was there that I actually purchased my first "real" bottle of wine. It was the wine shop of the vineyard I had just seen and Paolo's son was working there. I got to taste three different wines and choose my favorite. I went with a 2006 Doccio and Matteo, Chianti Classico. Made right where I was standing moments before! I feel like a true wine connoisseur now :). After the tasting, we went to have lunch at Ristorante Badia e Coltibuono in Gaiole in Chianti. The view from our outside patio table was amazing. Grandma and I went for the gustazione, which is like a full course menu of pre-chosen items. Basically, I dined on five courses of deliciousness! It was so much food but I ate every bite. If I could bring my all of you there, I would. Of all the places I have dined at so far, this place is one of the best. After lunch (three hours later) we headed back to Volpaia, squash blossoms and wine in hand. That night Grandma made my favorite dish, squash blossoms with cheese, eggs, and bread crumbs. I only ever get to eat that when I go to Seattle so it was a real treat :)
Sunday: My last day in Volpaia :( Tommaso and Kelly have offered to come pick me up, which was nice of them because then I didn't have to get a ride to the train. In the morning I went down to the Bar with Grandpa again, and we sat and talked for a while. He and grandma just wanted to stay in town for the day, which was fine my me. Oh and Grandma made me scrambled eggs in the morning which I was extremely grateful for because I haven't had scrambled eggs in forever... Italians don't eat eggs like that. But anyway, I sat down at the Bar for a while, had lunch with them, and people watched. I went back up to the house for a little while but it was too quiet so I found my way back to the Bar. Around the time that Tom and Kelly were coming, they thunder started and it began to rain lightly. The rain here is quite tropical so it is never actually cold. But soon after I sat down, I had a phone call from Kelly saying that they were there. I gave them a short tour of the town, and their villa. But it came to saying goodbye, I actually got a little teary-eyed. Especially since I won't see anyone else for a couple months. I asked grandpa if he would sing for them in the church because I wanted Kelly to see what I had been talking about. I think Kelly, Tommaso, and Mirko were very surprised when they heard grandpa's voice.. the look on their faces was priceless. I was very excited that I got to share that with them. After that, we left and started the curvy ride down the mountain. On the way out of town, we stopped in Greve to go wine tasting at this one shop that Tommaso knew of. It was very cool and we had fun walking around and checking out different labels. After, Mirko invited us over for dinner at his place so we dropped him off and continued back into Florence. I basically dropped off my stuff and we went to dinner. Again, delicious food... All men back home should be able to cook like Mirko. He said he learned how because he had to feed his little sister when they were younger! HA! Imagine that boys?! :)
Well, this is probably my longest entry yet, and I hope you all are not bored our of your minds... I just had A LOT to say. And I could have said even more believe it or not... But I will let you all get back to your lives. I hope everything is well for you and if you have any questions for me or just want to say hello, please email me!
sarah.green3491@gmail.com
I love you all very much!
Baci!
Sarah
So I have realized that blogging daily is almost an impossibility.. As you can see, it takes me at least a week to post. But I suppose it is a good thing that I am just that busy and having that much fun over here :) Anyway, I will try not to write a novel, since it has been ten days since I last wrote. I could very well write a novel but I will try to keep it somewhat concise.
As you last heard, I was dining away almost nightly at various "aperitivi" around Florence. I wish you all could experience a true aperitivo.. the food is usually better than anything I ever eat at home but its all "appetizers." Anyway, I wrote that I planned on going to Sunflower on Sunday.. Unfortunately it was cancelled due to the rain that actually came on Sunday night.. but oh well. Instead, on Friday night I went out with Tommaso because my other friends weren't going anywhere and I was bored and wanted to get out of the house. Because mom was using the car, the next obvious choice was to take his "mottorino" AKA a Vespa. And let me tell you... all the stereotypes about Italian vespa drivers are true!! I am a first hand witness to this everyday while standing (somewhat) safely on the sidewalk watching. But in this special case, I was able to get some actual evidence to prove my case. IT WAS SO SCARY! I honestly don't understand how there aren't accidents every five seconds here. Maybe it's because their cars are so small or something? I really don't know.. But alas, I was riding a Vespa through the strees of Firenze! As scary as it was, Tommasso really is a good driver, and I did wear a helmet so don't get worried yet.. We ended up going back to the Bar Argentina with a bunch of his friends. One or two spoke English so I talked with them a little bit, but I mostly listened. It gives me extra practice that most people don't get. So, there was Friday night. My first ride on a scooter, and conversations with Italians!
On Saturday, I hung out at home for the day. Later that night, we had a "girls night" with pizza at Gusta Pizza.. the BEST pizza in all of Florence. And after, we walked to out friend's apartment to hang out before going out. That was my first experience in a discoteca here in Florence. Called "Twice," it is a mostly American hang out with over priced drinks, loud music, no air, and of course, tons of Italian boys. When we walked into the place, there were literally 5 guys to every one girl in there. And let me tell you, they are not shy about making a point of coming over. I think I speak for all the girls there when I say that it feels like a meat market, and the guys are literally there to "pick out" the best product they can find. Needless to say, we did not stay there long.
Sunday, being that Sunflower was cancelled, I slept in. Woke up to eat, and took a nap. When I finally decided to arise for the day, I got up and did some homework. Sunday was mostly uneventful..
Monday, the start of a new week! Back at school in the a.m., home around one for lunch. Nothing too interesting. Homework, dinner, bed.
Tuesday. Somewhat of the same story. Except instead of going home for lunch, I tried this panino shop around the corner from school that has happy hour panini from 12 to 3. For only 3 euro, you get a huge panino with anything you want in it AND a drink. Just a great bargain. The panino was delicious and made having to go back to class less painful. I do miss being able to go home in between classes.. but it's not easy to do when you must take the bus.
Wednesday... more of the same. Except today we had an oral quiz in class. I actually just got my grade back today and got an A-. Not too shabby for making up a skit in 15 minutes! I really do enjoy talking when I can. It just takes a me a little while to formulate the words that I want to say. Anyway, after class I went home. At this point in the week, I have decided to go to Volpaia to visit my grandparents who are in Italy for three weeks! After school I decided which train to catch on Friday to get there. I couldn't believe I was actually going to see the place that my grandpa loves so dearly. I couldn't wait :) Went home to study and write a paper about Neorealism for my film class.
Thursday. First BIG test for Italian. I thought it went okay.... the class is fairly challenging because it goes at such a fact pace but the test didn't seem so bad. For lunch I went to Gusta Pizza to celebrate being done with my paper and finishing the test. After that, I went home and finally took a break. That night, Kelly, Tommaso and I went to this the William which is a fairly popular bar. We met up with Mirko, Tommaso's friend, and some of Kelly's friends. Kelly really likes beer so she always orders the strongest thing they have. It was pretty fun night sitting an talking over our dark beer [Side note to Tobin if you read this: I have to admit, I am beginning to like beer a little bit more, and not just "yellow fizzy water" beerm but the REAL stuff :)] After that, Tommaso drove us home and I crashed out.
Friday: Wake up around 10. Pack for Volpaia, and catch the bus to the train station. I still can't believe I am on my way there! What a life I have! I catch a 1:13 p.m. train and the ride takes about 45 minutes to get to Montevarchi... a town close-ish to Volpaia. Grandma and their driver Patricio are there waiting for me at the station! It has been a year since I have seen my grandparents and I have never been in Italy with them! I feel so happy to see a familiar face, that it kind of makes a little homesick. But I get over it quickly and we are on our way up the mountain to Volpaia! For those of you who have never been to Tuscany, Chianti region is what you envision when people say "Italy." At least that is tue for my vision. It is the setting of "Under the Tuscan Sun"... Eat, Pray, Love... and every other Italy set film out there. Simply breathtaking. By the time we made to Volpaia, I couldn't believe I was actually there. Volpaia was almost the way I had imagined it.. Small, and quieter than any place I've ever been.I arrived around 3 p.m. and we walked down to Bar-Ucci to get a cappucino but I had a feeling it was more so that my grandpa could introduce me to all these characters I've only ever read about in his book. At 4:30, a group of American tourists who had spent the week in Volpaia wanted to throw Paola, one of the Bar owners, a surprise birthday party. They asked my grandpa if he wanted to sing for her, and of course, he agreed. I have never heard my grandpa turn down a chance to sing. Especially in his most special place. Anyway, he sang two songs for the congregation and of course everyone broke intp applause at the end. It's not everyday that you hear an 83 year old man burst out in song, especially that song being opera. That night we dined at La Bottega, the restaurant about 20 feet from the bar, run by Paola's sister, Carla. After our meal, she asked grandpa to sing again, and he sang with her for the rest of the guests to hear. I love to see the reactions on people's faces when they realize what is happening across the room from them. I have had the priviledge to see these expressions for years now. For dinner I ordered the rabbit.. Yes, I know... not typical. But I wanted to give it a chance. The verdict: That was probably the first and last time I will be eating rabbit. All the same, it was a good experience and I am glad I tried it. Other than that, the food was delicious and I hope to go back to La Bottega again someday.
Saturday: Woke up at eight, got dressed and went down to the Bar with miei nonni (grandparents). Grandpa has a particular spot that he prefers to sit in so when we got down there, he was happty to see his table vacant. I ordered a capuccino and they un caffe. They planned to take me down to see their friend's vineyard and into Radda to go grocery shopping. The vineyard was magical. I got my own private tour of the winery and got to taste the the wine straight from the barrel! It was an amazing experience, and again, I am so blessed to be here! After the tour, we went to Radda to go grocery shopping and it was there that I actually purchased my first "real" bottle of wine. It was the wine shop of the vineyard I had just seen and Paolo's son was working there. I got to taste three different wines and choose my favorite. I went with a 2006 Doccio and Matteo, Chianti Classico. Made right where I was standing moments before! I feel like a true wine connoisseur now :). After the tasting, we went to have lunch at Ristorante Badia e Coltibuono in Gaiole in Chianti. The view from our outside patio table was amazing. Grandma and I went for the gustazione, which is like a full course menu of pre-chosen items. Basically, I dined on five courses of deliciousness! It was so much food but I ate every bite. If I could bring my all of you there, I would. Of all the places I have dined at so far, this place is one of the best. After lunch (three hours later) we headed back to Volpaia, squash blossoms and wine in hand. That night Grandma made my favorite dish, squash blossoms with cheese, eggs, and bread crumbs. I only ever get to eat that when I go to Seattle so it was a real treat :)
Sunday: My last day in Volpaia :( Tommaso and Kelly have offered to come pick me up, which was nice of them because then I didn't have to get a ride to the train. In the morning I went down to the Bar with Grandpa again, and we sat and talked for a while. He and grandma just wanted to stay in town for the day, which was fine my me. Oh and Grandma made me scrambled eggs in the morning which I was extremely grateful for because I haven't had scrambled eggs in forever... Italians don't eat eggs like that. But anyway, I sat down at the Bar for a while, had lunch with them, and people watched. I went back up to the house for a little while but it was too quiet so I found my way back to the Bar. Around the time that Tom and Kelly were coming, they thunder started and it began to rain lightly. The rain here is quite tropical so it is never actually cold. But soon after I sat down, I had a phone call from Kelly saying that they were there. I gave them a short tour of the town, and their villa. But it came to saying goodbye, I actually got a little teary-eyed. Especially since I won't see anyone else for a couple months. I asked grandpa if he would sing for them in the church because I wanted Kelly to see what I had been talking about. I think Kelly, Tommaso, and Mirko were very surprised when they heard grandpa's voice.. the look on their faces was priceless. I was very excited that I got to share that with them. After that, we left and started the curvy ride down the mountain. On the way out of town, we stopped in Greve to go wine tasting at this one shop that Tommaso knew of. It was very cool and we had fun walking around and checking out different labels. After, Mirko invited us over for dinner at his place so we dropped him off and continued back into Florence. I basically dropped off my stuff and we went to dinner. Again, delicious food... All men back home should be able to cook like Mirko. He said he learned how because he had to feed his little sister when they were younger! HA! Imagine that boys?! :)
Well, this is probably my longest entry yet, and I hope you all are not bored our of your minds... I just had A LOT to say. And I could have said even more believe it or not... But I will let you all get back to your lives. I hope everything is well for you and if you have any questions for me or just want to say hello, please email me!
sarah.green3491@gmail.com
I love you all very much!
Baci!
Sarah
Grandpa and his villa :)
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Day 16-22 Cinque Terre
Ciao!
Again, I am sorry about the delay in posts! I clearly am not the best at keeping up with this blogging business.. but by the time I am not in school, doing homework, or traveling, I just want to sleep! Anyway, this last week has been AMAZING. And since, again, it has been a full week since I last posted, I will do my best to fill you all in on what has been happening in mia vita bella!
So...
Friday: Day trip with all the UC students to Siena and San Gimignano. SO beautiful! (As are most things here) but these two places took my breath away. When we got to San Gimignano, a small town south of Florence, we paid 5 euro to climb to top of the highest tower to see the view. And let me tell you... it was incredible. I won't lie.. I did grumble a little bit about having to pay to climb up thousands of stairs just to be able to stand at the top, but when I got up there, it was well worth the effort and the money. I had a 360 degree view of miles and miles of country side, the city, and Italy! I probably took about pictures of the same view. After that short trip, we got back on the bus and headed to Siena. Not quite the size of Florence, Siena is a "quaint" town that features an amazing town square with crazy architecture. Siena is also known for an annual horserace they have put on for hundreds of years. In a nutshell, Siena is separated in 17 different neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has a different mascot and each year, 10 of the 17 neighborhoods participate in this horse race. To make the race fair, the horses are chose at random on race day so that no one neighborhood can buy the best horse. The race is three times around this tiny piazza and in total, it is over in about 1 minute and 18 seconds. Obviously, I was intrigued by this fact because you all know how much I love horses. Sadly, this event creates a lot of controversy because of how dangerous the race is for the riders and especially the horses. The corners on the piazza are so tight, they literally have to put mattresses on the buildings near the corners because so many horses fall when rounding them. Our tour guide also told us that one horse actually died this year :( and jockies have died in the past as well. Anyway, I found this to be the most interesting part of Siena and I hope that maybe I can come back to see the race someday. After that part, we finished the tour in different cathedrals, museums, and Siena's Duomo. It is not as impressive as Firenze's but still very cool. We also got to see the Patron Saint Katherine's skull on display at another museum.. not gunna lie, it was very creepy. It is like a floating head in glass box that people pray to daily but alas.. Just one of those things.. cool and interesting, but weird. After the tour, we all got back on the bus, exhausted, and headed home. Since I planned on going to Cinque Terre in the morning early, I spent the night at Ana's so that we could get up early and go to the train station.
Saturday: Woke up at 5:30 to catch a 7 a.m. train to Cinque Terre! I couldn't believe we were finally going! Everyone I have ever talked to about Italy has told me to go there, so I was really excited. We decided to start at the most northern town called Monterosso and hike south to the last town. We arrived in Monterosso around 10:45 and bought a train pass to use between the cities in case we decided not to hike. We started off up the hill and after about 10 minutes of walking in direct sunlight and at a significant grade, I started to feel the heat... this hike was timed out to be about 90 minutes according to the map. No big deal, right? Wrong. 90 minutes of stair climber on steroids. I swear... I have NEVER walked up so many stairs at one time while carrying my backpack and facing 90 degree heat! Long story short, after about 2 hours of hiking a sweating like men, we made it to the second town! As we came around the side of the mountain, we could see Vernazza from the top. I have never been more relieved to see civilization! Although the hike was not the way I thought it would be, I feel very accomplished by finishing it. Vernazza, a beautiful beach town with a small beach and beautiful water, was my favorite town of the five. We went to the beach to cool off and hung out for about an hour. I bought some delicious pizza and we made a group decision to catch a train to the next town.
When we arrived at Corniglia, we got off the train expecting to be sitting on another beautiful beach but sadly, this was not the case. Another set of terrifying stairs stood in our way. But, being the good sports that we are, we decided to climb the stairs up to town #3. When we made it to the top, there wasn't much to the little town. No beach, just a nice view of the water from the top and only a few stores.. Not as exciting as expected but still pretty nonetheless. Luckily, we were able to catch a bus down from Corniglia back to the train station at the bottom of the hill. We got back on the train and made our way to the fourth town; Manarola. Town #4 was my second favorite terra. We walked off the train and down to the water, and lo and behold, there was a crazy cove that looked like it should be covered in mermaids. It was honestly something out a movie. So of course, what else can we do but jump in? The water felt amazing and I felt like a real life mermaid swimming around. :) There a huge rock in the center that you could jump off of but since no one else in my group would do it, I was too scared to climb up there alone haha but I have pictures of other people jumping off. I do believe that if I become a rich old maid, I plan on retiring in one of these tiny towns. They are amazingly beautiful. Last but not least, we caught a train to the last town, Riomaggiore. This was a fairly lively town that had a lot of tourists in it and lots of restaurants. Before we were going to catch the train back to Florence, we grabbed some dinner and walked down to the water. Overall, an amazing trip. I recommend to anyone who comes to this region of Italy.
Sunday: Woke up around 11... had breakfast and decided to go grocery shopping with my roommate Kelly because we needed food for lunches. We left the house to go to the store, got all the way there, and realized it was closed on Sundays... That's the one kicker in Italy. Stores are usually closed on Sundays and randomly throughout the day. Most things are closed from 1 to 4 and ristorantes are open like 10 to 4, closed 4 to 7 and open 7 to 11 for dinner. So if you get hungry around 4.. you are basically screwed. Anyway, we eventually found a K-Mart-like store that had food and everything else you could want so we went shopping there for our stuff. Another thing that is weird is that the food here expired fairly quickly compared to American food. I am assuming this is because there are less preservatives in the food but it has been strange. Probably a good thing overall though. Anyway, Sunday night, Tomasso's friend Mirko invited us over for dinner at his house. First we went to aperitivo though which is this really cool thing where you pay around 6 euro for unlimited food and one drink. Unfortunately, I ate way to much there and by the time I got to Mirko's house, I was pretty full. Basically, Kelly and I couldn't even make it through our primi piatti so we never even got to the second dish! We felt bad but Mirko said it was his fault for making so much for primi piatti. Alas, I think I may have found my future husband.. he is an amazing chef! Too bad in Italy men typically don't cook meals... ha ha. Oh well.. We stayed at dinner probably too late for school the next morning but I figured that it would be worth the exhaustion :)
Monday: School. Nap. Homework. Eat. Sleep.
Tuesday: School. Homework. Aperitivo part 2 with everyone in Acccent including some Minnesotians and Virginians! But, I didn't end up meeting any. Food was delicious but I couldn't stay out because I had to catch a bus home before 11:30. That's one of the cons of living out of the city, I either have to sleep over or get a cab home.
Wednesday: School. Homework. Study for quiz. Aperitivo part 3 with Tomasso and Kelly and drinks at Bar Argentinian. Buy tickets for Sunflower (party on Sunday in Florence). Go to sleep way too late.
Thursday: Wake up at six to study some more. Go to school. Take quiz. Sneak to the bathroom to drink a cappucino. Go back to class. Eat lunch. Class. Home. Run. Shower. Eat. Write this blog.
Wooo! There we go. I hope you all enjoyed that.
As always, I will keep you posted!
Arrivederci!
Sarah
Again, I am sorry about the delay in posts! I clearly am not the best at keeping up with this blogging business.. but by the time I am not in school, doing homework, or traveling, I just want to sleep! Anyway, this last week has been AMAZING. And since, again, it has been a full week since I last posted, I will do my best to fill you all in on what has been happening in mia vita bella!
So...
Friday: Day trip with all the UC students to Siena and San Gimignano. SO beautiful! (As are most things here) but these two places took my breath away. When we got to San Gimignano, a small town south of Florence, we paid 5 euro to climb to top of the highest tower to see the view. And let me tell you... it was incredible. I won't lie.. I did grumble a little bit about having to pay to climb up thousands of stairs just to be able to stand at the top, but when I got up there, it was well worth the effort and the money. I had a 360 degree view of miles and miles of country side, the city, and Italy! I probably took about pictures of the same view. After that short trip, we got back on the bus and headed to Siena. Not quite the size of Florence, Siena is a "quaint" town that features an amazing town square with crazy architecture. Siena is also known for an annual horserace they have put on for hundreds of years. In a nutshell, Siena is separated in 17 different neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has a different mascot and each year, 10 of the 17 neighborhoods participate in this horse race. To make the race fair, the horses are chose at random on race day so that no one neighborhood can buy the best horse. The race is three times around this tiny piazza and in total, it is over in about 1 minute and 18 seconds. Obviously, I was intrigued by this fact because you all know how much I love horses. Sadly, this event creates a lot of controversy because of how dangerous the race is for the riders and especially the horses. The corners on the piazza are so tight, they literally have to put mattresses on the buildings near the corners because so many horses fall when rounding them. Our tour guide also told us that one horse actually died this year :( and jockies have died in the past as well. Anyway, I found this to be the most interesting part of Siena and I hope that maybe I can come back to see the race someday. After that part, we finished the tour in different cathedrals, museums, and Siena's Duomo. It is not as impressive as Firenze's but still very cool. We also got to see the Patron Saint Katherine's skull on display at another museum.. not gunna lie, it was very creepy. It is like a floating head in glass box that people pray to daily but alas.. Just one of those things.. cool and interesting, but weird. After the tour, we all got back on the bus, exhausted, and headed home. Since I planned on going to Cinque Terre in the morning early, I spent the night at Ana's so that we could get up early and go to the train station.
Saturday: Woke up at 5:30 to catch a 7 a.m. train to Cinque Terre! I couldn't believe we were finally going! Everyone I have ever talked to about Italy has told me to go there, so I was really excited. We decided to start at the most northern town called Monterosso and hike south to the last town. We arrived in Monterosso around 10:45 and bought a train pass to use between the cities in case we decided not to hike. We started off up the hill and after about 10 minutes of walking in direct sunlight and at a significant grade, I started to feel the heat... this hike was timed out to be about 90 minutes according to the map. No big deal, right? Wrong. 90 minutes of stair climber on steroids. I swear... I have NEVER walked up so many stairs at one time while carrying my backpack and facing 90 degree heat! Long story short, after about 2 hours of hiking a sweating like men, we made it to the second town! As we came around the side of the mountain, we could see Vernazza from the top. I have never been more relieved to see civilization! Although the hike was not the way I thought it would be, I feel very accomplished by finishing it. Vernazza, a beautiful beach town with a small beach and beautiful water, was my favorite town of the five. We went to the beach to cool off and hung out for about an hour. I bought some delicious pizza and we made a group decision to catch a train to the next town.
When we arrived at Corniglia, we got off the train expecting to be sitting on another beautiful beach but sadly, this was not the case. Another set of terrifying stairs stood in our way. But, being the good sports that we are, we decided to climb the stairs up to town #3. When we made it to the top, there wasn't much to the little town. No beach, just a nice view of the water from the top and only a few stores.. Not as exciting as expected but still pretty nonetheless. Luckily, we were able to catch a bus down from Corniglia back to the train station at the bottom of the hill. We got back on the train and made our way to the fourth town; Manarola. Town #4 was my second favorite terra. We walked off the train and down to the water, and lo and behold, there was a crazy cove that looked like it should be covered in mermaids. It was honestly something out a movie. So of course, what else can we do but jump in? The water felt amazing and I felt like a real life mermaid swimming around. :) There a huge rock in the center that you could jump off of but since no one else in my group would do it, I was too scared to climb up there alone haha but I have pictures of other people jumping off. I do believe that if I become a rich old maid, I plan on retiring in one of these tiny towns. They are amazingly beautiful. Last but not least, we caught a train to the last town, Riomaggiore. This was a fairly lively town that had a lot of tourists in it and lots of restaurants. Before we were going to catch the train back to Florence, we grabbed some dinner and walked down to the water. Overall, an amazing trip. I recommend to anyone who comes to this region of Italy.
Sunday: Woke up around 11... had breakfast and decided to go grocery shopping with my roommate Kelly because we needed food for lunches. We left the house to go to the store, got all the way there, and realized it was closed on Sundays... That's the one kicker in Italy. Stores are usually closed on Sundays and randomly throughout the day. Most things are closed from 1 to 4 and ristorantes are open like 10 to 4, closed 4 to 7 and open 7 to 11 for dinner. So if you get hungry around 4.. you are basically screwed. Anyway, we eventually found a K-Mart-like store that had food and everything else you could want so we went shopping there for our stuff. Another thing that is weird is that the food here expired fairly quickly compared to American food. I am assuming this is because there are less preservatives in the food but it has been strange. Probably a good thing overall though. Anyway, Sunday night, Tomasso's friend Mirko invited us over for dinner at his house. First we went to aperitivo though which is this really cool thing where you pay around 6 euro for unlimited food and one drink. Unfortunately, I ate way to much there and by the time I got to Mirko's house, I was pretty full. Basically, Kelly and I couldn't even make it through our primi piatti so we never even got to the second dish! We felt bad but Mirko said it was his fault for making so much for primi piatti. Alas, I think I may have found my future husband.. he is an amazing chef! Too bad in Italy men typically don't cook meals... ha ha. Oh well.. We stayed at dinner probably too late for school the next morning but I figured that it would be worth the exhaustion :)
Monday: School. Nap. Homework. Eat. Sleep.
Tuesday: School. Homework. Aperitivo part 2 with everyone in Acccent including some Minnesotians and Virginians! But, I didn't end up meeting any. Food was delicious but I couldn't stay out because I had to catch a bus home before 11:30. That's one of the cons of living out of the city, I either have to sleep over or get a cab home.
Wednesday: School. Homework. Study for quiz. Aperitivo part 3 with Tomasso and Kelly and drinks at Bar Argentinian. Buy tickets for Sunflower (party on Sunday in Florence). Go to sleep way too late.
Thursday: Wake up at six to study some more. Go to school. Take quiz. Sneak to the bathroom to drink a cappucino. Go back to class. Eat lunch. Class. Home. Run. Shower. Eat. Write this blog.
Wooo! There we go. I hope you all enjoyed that.
As always, I will keep you posted!
Arrivederci!
Sarah
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Day 11- 15 Villa Montalto
Ciao Tutti,
Again, sorry for the delay in posts! This week has been filled with craziness. So in order to sum it up for you all, I will break it down into days!
Monday: I had school from nine until 12:30 and then I went into the city to find a dress to wear to Villa Montalto, the place where we had our welcome dinner that night :) After shopping, I went home to get ready and took the bus back to the train station with Kelly to catch the bus to our villa. Our welcome dinner was hosted at this AMAZING Villa on the hill overlooking the city. The background of this blog is actually a picture from the villa! When we arrived, we had to trek up this huge hill but when we got to the top, this crazy palace was awaiting us. It was all very fancy; they served us drinks in nice glasses outside and hors d'oeuvres before dinner. Dinner began like all Italian meals do; a primi piatti consisting of a pasta dish. We had a pasta with zuchini and zuchini blossoms on top. Needless to say, it was awesome. This place was seriously out of a fairy tale... the sort of castle on top of the hill that princesses get married in. But back to the good stuff... the secondo piatti consisted of chicken, potatoes, and a salad. (I make it sound so boring, but in reality it had really fancy Italian names that I can't remember that make it sounds more delicious). Obviously it was amazing as well. Last but not least, we had la dolce; the sweet! Surprise, surprise.. they served us tiramisu. Although I am normally not a huge fan of this dessert, I decided to give it another chance in Italy. I have to admit... it is definitely growing on me. Which is probably a good thing considering that here people either eat 1) gelato or 2) tiramisu for la dolce. Anyway, the villa was incredible... I am so lucky to be here! I am reminded of that everyday.
Tuesday: School again from 9 to 330... but unfortunately for me, there was a bus strike starting at 4 p.m. until midnight so no bus for me home... Instead of walking the 45 min it takes me to get home on foot, I decided to stay at Ana's apartment for the day. During class we found out about beer pong tournament going on at a local bar that night and of course, being the typical Americans that we are, we decided to check it out. The bar we went to is called the Red Garter, and according to my homestay brother Tommaso, it used to be known for lots of rowdy bar fights back in the day but now it is pretty much an American student hang out. Fortunately for us, Americans seem to dominate at beer pong (sad but true: especially UCSB). But the best part of the night was that my roommate Kelly convinced Tommaso and his friend to come out with us and learn how to play! Let me make this clear.. I am no professional at beer pong, but for whatever reason I am not too bad at it. I do surprisingly well when I do decide to play. Anyway, I partnered up with Tommaso to teach him the ways of the game and we had a blast. The bar was crazy and there was barely any space to move.. but we actually won our first two games and made it to the next round! Unfortunately the next round was against my friends from school.. needless to say they beat us pretty fast but it was still a lot of fun.
Wednesday: It was not easy waking up for school. When I went out to get breakfast Tomasso made a joke that we should play coffee pong.. ha ha. He is so clever. Despite our language barrier, we joke around quite often. Wednesday mostly consists of me walking around the library like a zombie and going home to take a 2 hour nap... I will call it my siesta haha.
Today: School, again. Found a new caffe to study in in between my classes. GREAT panini and cappucino for a relatively low price. Also overlooking the Arno of course :) I can't wait for tomorrow though.. We are going on a group trip to Siena and San Gimignano which should be really fun. Saturday, Ana, Ariana, Bree and I plan on going to Cinque Terre and hiking from town to town. It is supposed to be beautiful there so I plan on take TONS of pictures to make you all even more jealous of my amazing life :)
Since we have to catch a bus at 8, I am going to head to bed since it is about 11 p.m. here. I hope everything is well with you all and please comment if you have questions or want to know more about what I am doing in this torturous life... :) Miss you all!
Abbracci e baci dall' Italia!
Sarah
Again, sorry for the delay in posts! This week has been filled with craziness. So in order to sum it up for you all, I will break it down into days!
Monday: I had school from nine until 12:30 and then I went into the city to find a dress to wear to Villa Montalto, the place where we had our welcome dinner that night :) After shopping, I went home to get ready and took the bus back to the train station with Kelly to catch the bus to our villa. Our welcome dinner was hosted at this AMAZING Villa on the hill overlooking the city. The background of this blog is actually a picture from the villa! When we arrived, we had to trek up this huge hill but when we got to the top, this crazy palace was awaiting us. It was all very fancy; they served us drinks in nice glasses outside and hors d'oeuvres before dinner. Dinner began like all Italian meals do; a primi piatti consisting of a pasta dish. We had a pasta with zuchini and zuchini blossoms on top. Needless to say, it was awesome. This place was seriously out of a fairy tale... the sort of castle on top of the hill that princesses get married in. But back to the good stuff... the secondo piatti consisted of chicken, potatoes, and a salad. (I make it sound so boring, but in reality it had really fancy Italian names that I can't remember that make it sounds more delicious). Obviously it was amazing as well. Last but not least, we had la dolce; the sweet! Surprise, surprise.. they served us tiramisu. Although I am normally not a huge fan of this dessert, I decided to give it another chance in Italy. I have to admit... it is definitely growing on me. Which is probably a good thing considering that here people either eat 1) gelato or 2) tiramisu for la dolce. Anyway, the villa was incredible... I am so lucky to be here! I am reminded of that everyday.
Tuesday: School again from 9 to 330... but unfortunately for me, there was a bus strike starting at 4 p.m. until midnight so no bus for me home... Instead of walking the 45 min it takes me to get home on foot, I decided to stay at Ana's apartment for the day. During class we found out about beer pong tournament going on at a local bar that night and of course, being the typical Americans that we are, we decided to check it out. The bar we went to is called the Red Garter, and according to my homestay brother Tommaso, it used to be known for lots of rowdy bar fights back in the day but now it is pretty much an American student hang out. Fortunately for us, Americans seem to dominate at beer pong (sad but true: especially UCSB). But the best part of the night was that my roommate Kelly convinced Tommaso and his friend to come out with us and learn how to play! Let me make this clear.. I am no professional at beer pong, but for whatever reason I am not too bad at it. I do surprisingly well when I do decide to play. Anyway, I partnered up with Tommaso to teach him the ways of the game and we had a blast. The bar was crazy and there was barely any space to move.. but we actually won our first two games and made it to the next round! Unfortunately the next round was against my friends from school.. needless to say they beat us pretty fast but it was still a lot of fun.
Wednesday: It was not easy waking up for school. When I went out to get breakfast Tomasso made a joke that we should play coffee pong.. ha ha. He is so clever. Despite our language barrier, we joke around quite often. Wednesday mostly consists of me walking around the library like a zombie and going home to take a 2 hour nap... I will call it my siesta haha.
Today: School, again. Found a new caffe to study in in between my classes. GREAT panini and cappucino for a relatively low price. Also overlooking the Arno of course :) I can't wait for tomorrow though.. We are going on a group trip to Siena and San Gimignano which should be really fun. Saturday, Ana, Ariana, Bree and I plan on going to Cinque Terre and hiking from town to town. It is supposed to be beautiful there so I plan on take TONS of pictures to make you all even more jealous of my amazing life :)
Since we have to catch a bus at 8, I am going to head to bed since it is about 11 p.m. here. I hope everything is well with you all and please comment if you have questions or want to know more about what I am doing in this torturous life... :) Miss you all!
Abbracci e baci dall' Italia!
Sarah
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Day 7-10 Fa Caldo!
Ciao Everybody!
My apologies about the delay with the posts! I have been extremely busy and haven't had much time to write. But now that I have a little down time, I will try to get everyone up to speed on what has been happening in my life!
So.. as far as class is concerned, so far so good! I had Italian on Thursday and Friday and most of the class time was spent reviewing stuff that I have already learned. We go at a VERY fast pace though.. one day of Italian here is the equivalent to about 4 days at home in an Italian class. I am sure it will start to become more challenging soon, so I am trying to prepare myself for that! I also had my first Italian Film class on Friday. So far, it seems like a very interesting class. The only downside it that we have to watch all the films required for the class outside of class, so that means I will be spending a lot of time on YouTube watching old Italian movies. But I think that overall, I have a pretty good schedule this semester!
On the topic of travel, Ana and I have a list of destinations we would like to see before we head home. These places include...
-Paris
-Madrid or Barcelona
-Norway
-Cinque Terre
-Lake Como
-Venezia
and the list could probably continue forever, but that is what I think we have narrowed it down to.
Yesterday, Ana, her three roommates and I went on a short day-cation to a little beach town called Viareggio. It is about an hour and a half train ride west from Florence. We caught a train at 10 a.m. and hung out at the beach for about 5 hours. One surprise when we found the beach was that we had to pay to use the beach; I guess you can't just show up and expect to be able to use the beach for free! Basically they charge you about 30 euro for day use of an umbrella, two chairs, and a "bed" which is just a tanning chair. Since their were 5 of us, the cost wasn't too bad, and we were relieved to have an umbrella since the temp was probably around 95. Other than that, the beach was amazing! I have never been to an ocean that has absolutely NO waves... it was basically a lake. But it was beautiful and a nice break from the heat of the city. The Mediterranean Sea is also A LOT saltier than any other beach I've been to, so right by the edge of the water, there is a shower for you to use so that the salt doesn't dry on your skin. I also have been missing the ocean a little bit so it was almost like being at home.
Today, I went into the city for a walking tour at 10 a.m. I am so glad that I did because even though I have seen everything on the tour, the history behind it all is so rich!! I can't describe how mind blowing it is to imagine the exact place you are standing existed hundreds and hundred of years ago and has not changed very much, if even at all. The historical contexts surrounding this city are amazing... I left the tour feeling 100% more educated and appreciative of Firenze than when I started. One of the best parts of being a student here is that we all were given a student museum card that gets us into most of the museums in Florence for free!! So I plan on spending a lot of time doing that.
Right now I am back at home trying to watch an old 1940s WWII film made in Italy for my class on Tuesday and work on my homework. The weather today was very strange, it began to rain during the tour but it was still very warm out, so it is basically super humid right now with some thunderstorms. Kinda odd.. but I'm hoping it will start to cool down soon because the mosquitoes are killer, they have even started trying to eat me when before they wanted nothing to do with me! Anyway, I should probably get back to this movie, I hope everything is going well in your lives and I would love to stay updated via comments about what is happening!
Love and miss you all!
Sarah
My apologies about the delay with the posts! I have been extremely busy and haven't had much time to write. But now that I have a little down time, I will try to get everyone up to speed on what has been happening in my life!
So.. as far as class is concerned, so far so good! I had Italian on Thursday and Friday and most of the class time was spent reviewing stuff that I have already learned. We go at a VERY fast pace though.. one day of Italian here is the equivalent to about 4 days at home in an Italian class. I am sure it will start to become more challenging soon, so I am trying to prepare myself for that! I also had my first Italian Film class on Friday. So far, it seems like a very interesting class. The only downside it that we have to watch all the films required for the class outside of class, so that means I will be spending a lot of time on YouTube watching old Italian movies. But I think that overall, I have a pretty good schedule this semester!
On the topic of travel, Ana and I have a list of destinations we would like to see before we head home. These places include...
-Paris
-Madrid or Barcelona
-Norway
-Cinque Terre
-Lake Como
-Venezia
and the list could probably continue forever, but that is what I think we have narrowed it down to.
Yesterday, Ana, her three roommates and I went on a short day-cation to a little beach town called Viareggio. It is about an hour and a half train ride west from Florence. We caught a train at 10 a.m. and hung out at the beach for about 5 hours. One surprise when we found the beach was that we had to pay to use the beach; I guess you can't just show up and expect to be able to use the beach for free! Basically they charge you about 30 euro for day use of an umbrella, two chairs, and a "bed" which is just a tanning chair. Since their were 5 of us, the cost wasn't too bad, and we were relieved to have an umbrella since the temp was probably around 95. Other than that, the beach was amazing! I have never been to an ocean that has absolutely NO waves... it was basically a lake. But it was beautiful and a nice break from the heat of the city. The Mediterranean Sea is also A LOT saltier than any other beach I've been to, so right by the edge of the water, there is a shower for you to use so that the salt doesn't dry on your skin. I also have been missing the ocean a little bit so it was almost like being at home.
Right now I am back at home trying to watch an old 1940s WWII film made in Italy for my class on Tuesday and work on my homework. The weather today was very strange, it began to rain during the tour but it was still very warm out, so it is basically super humid right now with some thunderstorms. Kinda odd.. but I'm hoping it will start to cool down soon because the mosquitoes are killer, they have even started trying to eat me when before they wanted nothing to do with me! Anyway, I should probably get back to this movie, I hope everything is going well in your lives and I would love to stay updated via comments about what is happening!
Love and miss you all!
Sarah
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